Tim McGraw was rooting for the home team on Tuesday night (Nov. 1) during the Philadelphia Phillies' 7-0 win over the visiting Houston Astros. The victory gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven World Series.
As captured on Citizen Bank Park's Jumbotron, Tim was sitting next to his daughter Gracie and wearing the number 45 jersey of his dad, the late Tug McGraw. Tug pitched for the Phillies from 1975 to 1984. He stuck out the Kansas City Royals' Willie Wilson to end the 1980 World Series, securing the Phillies' first world championship. Tug won a prior ring with one of the most unlikely championship teams in league history, 1969's New York Mets.
Country music star Tim McGraw is wearing his father’s Phillies jersey at tonight’s game ?
His dad, Tug McGraw, won a World Series with the Phillies in 1980. pic.twitter.com/8d49mgABoQ
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 2, 2022
As a child, Tim had a complicated relationship with Tug. Before finding his birth certificate in his mother's belongings, 11-year-old Tim thought he was the biological son of his stepfather, Horace Smith. The father and son began a relationship when Tim was a 17-year-old high school student and became close before Tug's 2004 death following a bout with brain cancer.
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Tug helped Tim early in the singer's career, passing along his demo tape to a record executive he'd met at a team party for the Phillies and purchasing a tour van.
During the 2008 World Series, Tim threw out the first pitch in game three. Beforehand, he scattered some of his dad's ashes on the pitcher's mound. The Phillies ended their postseason run that year by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays for the franchise's second world championship.
Tim honored his father in 2003 by starting the Tug McGraw Foundation, which helps enhance the quality of life for children and adults with "neurological brain conditions such as brain tumors, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder."
